The Yuri Explorer is a yuri manga review blog with the aim to share observations noted from the endless yuri manga worlds.

Why the focus on yuri manga? Each manga is a fascinating world of its own, and it feels like representation with its limitless possibilities!

Self-proclaiming myself as The Yuri Explorer, I’m Leigh and my specific exploration interest lies in yuri manga. If you need a disclaimer: this is a review blog, there is no right or wrong here!

My personal journey of reading yuri manga has spanned over a decade and half (and counting). A reason of starting this blog is to chronicle my various journeys so far so I can fight against memory loss (aging be real). The second reason is just because I think the world need more people to share about yuri manga, and why not share from a queer woman’s perspective aka me.

The definition of manga and yuri can be super broad. In here, a manga is any graphic heavy work which include manga, comics, graphic novels, webcomics etc.

I also consider a work as yuri so long the storyline is centric on the female characters’ same-sex relationships in any form. Yuri will be considered the same as these other terms:
Lily
Girls love (GL)
Shoujo ai
Women loving women (WLW)
Sapphic
百合

My explorations so far are mostly on Asian works and I am keen to find more diverse works. Got a recommendation? Share it here.

The concept of yuri manga itself is still relatively new. First developed in the 1930s, coined in the 1970s, and redefined in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. I stand on the shoulders of many giants who have blazed a path on this trail, and am just doing my part to keep the path visible for more to walk on.

If you are interested to learn about the historical parts of yuri manga, check this, this, this, this. I got my sources from these knowledgeable folks.

If you wondered about actual published books analysing yuri manga:
– here’s one in English (By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga)
– and one in Chinese (少女之愛：台灣ACG界百合迷文化發展史 2023增修版 – Girls’ Love: The Development History of Lily Fan Culture in Taiwan’s ACG Industry 2023 Revised Edition)

I am a proud owner of both books, where I found one by browsing online and the other at an Animate store. The concept of analysing yuri manga was and is still very mindblowing to me, and I’m so glad to be alive to see these existing.

Having said all these, please remember this is just a review blog and all opinions are mine (for now). I am wholly referencing Okazu for the following rules of fandom to help you and I out alright? Here goes:

Just because you like something, doesn’t mean it’s good.

Just because you don’t like something, doesn’t mean it’s bad.

And just because something is bad doesn’t mean you can’t like it.

Just because something is good, doesn’t mean you have to like it.

– Okazu